Love Don't Die Easy
by Anath Tsurugi
Summary: Tadashi survives the fire...but only because Callaghan meant for him to. What will become of Hiro when Yokai is unmasked?
1. An Arrow Through the Heart

(A/N) Well, I've seen plenty of 'Tadashi's alive' stories, but nothing's quite hit all the selling points for me, so I thought I'd try my own hand at it. Let's go for a drive and see where we end up.

**Warnings:** There will be copious amounts of brother torture in this story. This particular chapter contains hints of suicidal thoughts and the beginnings of mind rape.

**Love Don't Die Easy**

_Chapter 1: An Arrow Through the Heart_

Tadashi had to forcibly shut out Hiro's desperate cries as he raced into the burning building. It wasn't long before the sounds of the roaring fire and the crumbling structure drowned it out, though. There wasn't much time. The center had just about had it. He had to find Callaghan _now!_

"Callaghan!" he shouted as he ran through the fire, the acrid scent of smoke overwhelming his senses. "Where are you? _Answer me!_"

"Tadashi," a calm voice answered his cries. The young man spun around to see a figure cloaked in some sort of black wave.

"Hiro's...microbots?" he murmured in quiet confusion, slowly recognizing the individual shape and motion of the tiny bots.

"I knew you'd come," the figure said in the same unnervingly calm voice. The wave of microbots slowly rolled back to reveal the person underneath.

"Callaghan?" he called out uncertainly, frightened by the look in his professor's eyes. "What- what are you doing? We need to get out of here."

"Oh, we will, Tadashi. You see...this will be the tragedy that liberates you and I."

"Professor...I don't understand what you're talking about. This place is about to go," he explained, as if the man couldn't already see this. Every instinct told him to step back from this man...to run as fast as he could, scoop up Hiro, and get as far from Robert Callaghan as humanly possible...but those instincts also clashed with his own nature. Someone needed help. He had to save him...even if it was from himself.

"Trust me, Tadashi, I know exactly how much time we have left. I set this explosion myself."

"You...you _what?_" Tadashi demanded in shock. "People could have _died,_ Callaghan! Have you lost your mind?" He couldn't believe it. His mentor, the man he looked up to...trusted...had deliberately endangered hundreds of innocent lives? This couldn't be real.

"No one's in any danger, I promise you. They've all evacuated. It's just you and me now. Come on. Join me," he said, holding a hand out to him.

Tadashi took a step back, eyeing the hand with apprehension. "If you planned this...how did you know I'd even _be_ here?"

"I knew you'd be here because I know _you,_ Tadashi Hamada. All it took was one word from that girl. The moment you heard your _mentor_ was in danger, you came running. I knew you'd come to _rescue_ me. That's exactly the kind of conviction I need."

Tadashi shook his head, taking several more steps back, _further_ into the burning building. "What are you saying? This isn't right!"

"We don't have much time, Tadashi. You need to understand...this is all for a higher purpose. If you want to know the truth, you need to come with me _now!_" Callaghan insisted as he followed the young man's retreat, still holding his hand out.

"No way," Tadashi said, shaking his head again. If this man he'd thought was his friend thought it justified to risk human life this way, he wanted no part of this. "I'm getting out. Hiro's waiting for me."

Tadashi started to run, moving to make a wide arc around the professor and the writhing mass of microbots, but as he hurried past, he heard the man calling out to him.

"Oh, Tadashi...that really was the _wrong answer._"

At that, Tadashi suddenly felt something wrap around his ankles. Almost before he was aware of it, he was yanked off his feet and dragged across the floor. Still disoriented, he found himself pulled upright, face to face with Callaghan.

"Let me go!" he shouted, struggling futilely against the microbots. "If you don't let me go right now, I'll-"

"You'll _what?_" Callaghan spat in his face. "You don't have the stomach for that sort of thing, Tadashi, but we can easily do something about that. I'm sorry to do this to you, but I need your help. It's time for us to disappear."

Tadashi fought, but it was in vain. When he finally had to admit he was helpless, he did the only thing he could do. He called out for help...to the only person who might hear him.

"_Hiro!_"

He would never know if his little brother heard him or not. Several things happened all at once. There was a giant explosion of light and heat all around them and Tadashi screamed in agony as he felt the flames searing through his clothing and his skin, straight down to the bone. The pain didn't last long, though, because something heavy impacted with the side of his head and everything faded to blessed darkness...but as the world slipped away around him, he could have almost sworn he heard a voice.

"_Tadashi!_"

_Hiro...Hiro...I'm sorry._

XxX

_For a long while, all he knows is darkness and silence. That harrowing blackness is broken only occasionally by visions of fire. Flames lick at his hands and feet...all the way up...slowly consuming him. He screams, but there's no sound._

_"Tadashi!"_

_**Who...?**_

_"Tadashi! Tadashi, help me!"_

_**Hiro...Hiro needs me! Have to...help...**_

_"Nii-chan...please...I'm scared."_

_**I'm coming, Hiro! Hold on!**_

_But then he hears Hiro screaming...and no matter how hard he tries, he cannot reach him. He's trapped...burning and dying...while his baby brother screams in agony. _

"HIRO!"

_Only when he's sure he'll go crazy with the sound piercing his heart does the blackness overtake him once again, leaving him frozen and nonexistent._

_**Hiro...**_

"Tadashi?"

"No...no more..." _he whispers, his throat dry and scratchy...as if from disuse...or from screaming._

"I know you can hear me, Tadashi."

"Leave me alone," _he pleads. He can't take it anymore. He can't burn again. He can't listen to Hiro die again._

"I know you're with me, Tadashi Hamada, so you may as well wake up and listen."

"I-" Tadashi tried one more time before his eyes finally blinked open. He didn't yet know it, but he'd exchanged one hell for another.

The first thing he became aware of was the fact that he was sitting in a darkened room. He couldn't see much of anything beyond the single spotlight that shone down on him, but he did soon become aware that he was sitting in a chair. Well...not sitting. He was actually _tied_ to the chair pretty thoroughly. He could feel the lengths of rope digging into his wrists, arms, and chest, as well as his ankles. When he looked down, he found he was clothed in nothing but a pair of black pants.

"Where...where am I?" he finally made himself ask, still not fully able to focus. "What's happening?" The last thing he remembered was...congratulating Hiro on his presentation.

"I'm sorry about all this, Tadashi, but you've been heavily sedated for the better part of two weeks. I couldn't risk your reaction to the situation," the familiar voice said as its owner stepped into his view.

"Professor Callaghan?" he mumbled in confusion. "I...what's going on? Why am I tied up? Where are we? Where...where's Hiro?"

"You don't...remember anything?" Callaghan asked slowly, glancing sideways at him...and as Tadashi looked at the now strange, steely expression on his mentor's face, it all started to come back to him in fragmented bits and pieces.

_Fire...explosions...the microbots...Callaghan...__**pain...**_

_"I knew you'd come."_

_"What are you saying? This isn't right!"_

_"Oh, Tadashi...that really was the __**wrong answer.**__"_

_"__**Hiro!**__"_

_"__**Tadashi!**__"_

"The fire," he whispered as it all came rushing back with painful clarity. "What...what happened? Hiro! Is he all right?" he demanded.

"As all right as can be expected...seeing as how he's been mourning your _death_ for two weeks," the professor said harshly.

"Oh, God," Tadashi whispered in horror. He remembered the pain of losing his parents. He could barely imagine the pain of losing his little brother. What Hiro must have been suffering these last two weeks...

At the thought of his brother in pain, rage flared up in Tadashi's heart and he turned sickened, angry eyes up to the man who had been his mentor, demanding, "_Why,_ Callaghan? Why would you _do_ this? The fire...the microbots..._Hiro_...why?"

Callaghan sighed heavily as he began to pace. "Tadashi...you are, inarguably, my best student. I've always thought that you and I understand each other better than any of the others do. If anyone would understand my situation, I felt certain it would be you."

"What situation?"

"For all I know about your personal life, I don't believe I've told you very much about mine. Did you know I had a daughter?"

"Had?" Tadashi asked, latching onto the word with a touch of foreboding in his heart.

"Abigail was very brave and very smart. She worked as a test pilot for Krei Tech several years ago. They'd come out with a sort of teleportation technology...but when they were demonstrating it for their investors, something went wrong. The technology wasn't ready. The test pilot...Abigail...she was lost," Callaghan explained as he turned away from Tadashi.

"I'm so sorry," Tadashi said after several moments of pained silence. "I understand what you're going through."

"Yes," Callaghan interrupted before he could say any more, though he still didn't look at him. "I thought if anyone would, it would be you. And if your parents had been _murdered_...surely you would want to do everything in your power to see that the murderer was brought to justice."

"What do you mean murdered?" Tadashi asked, feeling a chill steal across his heart. "Abigail wasn't murdered. It was an accident."

"Krei _knew_ his technology wasn't ready!" Callaghan snarled as he turned to face him. "He _knew_...and he let her go anyway. It's his fault she's dead! _His fault!_" the professor screamed, his eyes wild with rage. "He killed her and they didn't punish him! What did the government do? They covered the whole thing up! They buried it deep and they let that monster off with a slap on the wrist. And me...what was I left with? No body to bury, a letter of condolence, and her last paycheck. That's all my precious girl was to them! A few god damn _pieces of paper!_ If they have their way, Krei will never see the inside of a jail cell...or a hangman's noose."

"What...what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I mean to make him _pay,_ Tadashi...and I need your help to do it," he said, leering maniacally as he knelt in front of the elder Hamada.

"_What?_"

"I'm an old man, Tadashi...much too old to be carrying out this revenge. I can control Hiro's microbots, certainly, but I just can't take the risk that I might not have the strength to finish this. If I die before this is over, it will mean Krei goes unpunished and Abigail died for nothing. I need a young pair of legs and a strong back to help me finish this task. I thought if anyone would understand my situation...would sympathize and be willing to help me punish a murderer...it would be _you_...Tadashi Hamada. Please...will you help me?"

For a long while, Tadashi just stared at his former professor in horror. He could feel pity for the man and sympathize with what he'd been through, certainly, but _this_...Robert Callaghan was asking him to help him commit _murder._ He was asking him to turn his back on everything he believed in for the sake of some crazy revenge scheme. Slowly, he shook his head.

"Callaghan...I _can't._ _You_ can't. What happened was awful, but Krei doesn't deserve to _die_ for it. My whole purpose in life is to help people. I can't kill another human being. I'm sorry. I just _can't do that!_"

Callaghan's expression twisted at this, his eyes growing dark and harsh as he got to his feet. "We'll see about that. What would you do if it was your own brother?"

Tadashi felt fear grip his chest at the insinuation. "W- what are you talking about?"

"Think about it. Krei propositioned Hiro the night of the explosion. What if he'd taken Krei up on his offer? What if he'd given away the microbots and allowed that man to twist them into something they weren't...something that would have _destroyed_ your brother. What would you do then?"

"No. I don't believe you. Hiro's too smart for that," he said, the words a low growl in his throat. If this man even _hinted_ at threatening Hiro...

"It still might happen. What sort of decisions might young Hiro make...lost and alone without his _nii-chan?_" Callaghan mocked. "What will you do when that man tries to tell you he's sorry over your brother's _dead body?_"

"_Shut up!_" Tadashi screamed at him, trying to lunge forward, but held back by the ropes. "If any of you hurt so much as _one hair_ on his head, I'll tear you all to pieces!"

At this, Callaghan began to sneer. "That's what I thought. You play at being a saint, Tadashi, but underneath that, there are untapped reservoirs of _rage._ We just need the right pressure point to break the dam."

"No," Tadashi hissed as he turned away from his former mentor in shock, eyes squeezing tightly shut. "That's not me. It's _not._"

"You should stop lying to yourself, Hamada. You see...the thing about people who claim to want to help everyone...that's only true because only they know how to cause _real pain._ They're desperate to try and fix the world because only _they_ know how truly depraved it can be. That's what you _really_ are, Tadashi. It will be less painful for you if you embrace it," he said, taking hold of Tadashi's hair and forcing his head back.

"Stop it. _Stop it,_" the young man hissed, still not looking at Callaghan. He would never admit it, but the professor's words called up things he'd managed to forget...playground days...beating up kids who'd bullied his baby brother...and that tiny spark of _glee_ he'd felt at causing them pain.

"What would dear Hiro think if he could see what lies just beneath this skin?" he taunted, running a thumb along Tadashi's cheek. "What if he could really see the monster you keep hidden? Would your brother still love you?"

"Please..._stop,_" Tadashi begged, feeling tears he refused to shed burn at his eyelids. "I can't...I _can't._"

"Just what do you think you can do if you won't help me? You can't go back to your family. You're _dead_ to them. They've _buried_ you. What would you do? Where would you go? In a world without your family, what _are_ you? Even if you _could_ go back, you can _never_ erase the _pain_ you've caused them. In fact, why don't we have a look at just what sorts of nightmares little Hiro's been dealing with," Callaghan said, slipping a controller from his pocket and pointing at the darkness beyond them. A screen immediately flared to life, playing some sort of video feed. Tadashi nearly threw up what little was in his stomach when he realized that the feed was of his and Hiro's bedroom.

He couldn't ask how Callaghan had gotten a camera in there. He couldn't focus on things like that right now. All he could see was the tiny, nearly unrecognizable figure lying on Hiro's bed, burrowed under a mountain of blankets.

Hiro wasn't even trying to hold back his tears. Great, heaving sobs wracked his small body, wringing out every last drop of grief he had to give before finding even more to drain away from him. He sobbed as if his heart had shattered, because it had. He wasn't very tall to begin with, but now he just looked impossibly small, lying helpless and grief-stricken on the bed.

"Tadashi...damn it..._Tadashi!_" he sobbed in anguish, beating at his pillow. "It's not fair! _Nii-chan!_" he cried out before burying his face in the pillow and screaming.

Tadashi was too stricken to even plead with Callaghan to stop. He was so horrified by his baby brother's agony, all he could do was sit there and stare as tears poured silently down his own face.

_You did this to him. This is your fault._

Before Tadashi had even a prayer of pulling himself together, the feed changed. It showed a different night. Hiro was lying with his head at the foot of his bed, eyes red and puffy from crying. He was wearing one of Tadashi's jackets wrapped tightly around him while he kept his nose buried in one of the sleeves, laughing bitterly as several more tears slid down his face.

"Damn it, man...you have a scent. Did you know that? I didn't...and in a few weeks, it's gonna be gone...just like you. Tadashi...how many more times can I lose you, _damn it?_"

"Hiro..." Tadashi whispered, feeling his throat constrict around the word. He swallowed painfully as more tears squeezed their way out of his eyes. He wasn't sure how much of this he could take.

_I'm sorry, Hiro. I'm so sorry._

A different night now. Hiro was sitting at his desk, staring blankly at his computer.

"Why the hell did I let you go in there? It should have been _me!_ The microbots...maybe I could have actually _done_ something."

_Hiro...please. Don't do this to yourself!_

"Tadashi...I don't know if you can hear me...but I don't know if I can do this," Hiro said softly. Then he picked up a knife he had lying on the desk - a paring knife he'd probably taken from the cafe. Slowly he began to trace his wrist with the blade's sharp edge, not drawing blood...just lingering on the surface...on the edge...

"Hiro, don't!" Tadashi couldn't stop himself from crying out, trying to reach for his brother, but unable to. "I'm here! I'm _right here!_ You don't have to do this! _Hiro!_"

Then, almost as if he'd heard him...as if he'd suddenly realized what he was doing...Hiro shoved the knife away, out of his reach. Then he buried his face in his hands and started to cry again.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Hiro sobbed, and Tadashi had no idea if he meant he was sorry for considering suicide...or if he was sorry for not being able to go through with it. Either way, it tore him in two. "Damn it. _Why aren't you here?_"

"I _am_ here," he whispered to the screen as the tears continued to fall. "I'm here for you. I'm not dead. I'm sorry. _Please..._don't cry."

With this, the screen finally went dark and Tadashi slumped in the chair, barely feeling the harsh pull of the rope against his skin. He didn't even look up when Callaghan began to speak again.

"I have all the nights since the fire...and I don't doubt there will be more. He's doing no better. You'll see every moment of the pain you've caused him," he said, slowly lifting Tadashi's face up by the chin so he could look him in the eye.

"Please...you don't have to do this," Tadashi repeated desperately. He knew he couldn't bear this. It would break him.

"No. I'm afraid I do. You've proven you're in need of...reeducation. I'm sorry this is necessary, but I can't let anything stand in my way. I promise you, Tadashi, you'd do the same if it was Hiro."

Tadashi wanted to deny him, to tell him he was wrong about him...but he was no longer so certain. He couldn't be sure of what was inside him. Was there a monster...just like Callaghan...just waiting for the right trigger to be set free? He didn't know...and he was terrified to find out.

"You don't feel it yet, of course, but your back was badly burned in the escape. You've got some very nasty scar tissue back there. The pain killers will start to wear off before too long, though. You'll start to feel it. Be thankful I kept you unconscious for the worst part of that, because we've only just begun. Reeducation also requires...reconstruction," Callaghan explained, holding up a hand. Tadashi cringed when he saw what was lying in it.

A microbot.

"I can be very inventive, Tadashi. You saw what I could do with only a moment of practice. Imagine what I could do to your body. Imagine what it will do to Hiro...to know I used his own invention to _break you,_" he said, running the bot down the side of the young man's face...and it was in that moment that Tadashi Hamada knew he was already lost. He would do his best to fight back, but Callaghan had already won. He couldn't fight this.

He'd survived the explosion that should have killed him, but that made little difference. Tadashi knew he was dead already.

XxX

(A/N) So...any interest in seeing what happens next?


	2. The Heart Keeps on Beating

(A/N) Thank you all so much for your positive responses to the story. Let's hope I can continue to please you (or, y'know, rip your hearts out with agony whilst making you enjoy every minute of it...my God, what's wrong with us?).

**Love Don't Die Easy**

_Chapter 2: The Heart Keeps On Beating_

He was torn apart and put back together a hundred times over. Pieces of him he hadn't known existed were destroyed, replaced with things that just couldn't be imagined. The physical torture he might have been able to withstand, but all that while, Callaghan played with his mind...showing him how much Hiro was suffering without him.

"I have a surprise for you today, Tadashi," Callaghan told him when he came to after a particularly violent session. "You've been such a good patient these last few days, taking your medicine, I thought you deserved a little treat."

With that, the door to the former professor's workroom slid open, revealing both the only and last thing in the world Tadashi wanted to see.

Hiro was standing in the doorway, his small form framed by the light from the hallway. A look of horror twisted his features when he saw Tadashi.

"No," Tadashi whispered in anguish, struggling against the ropes that held him, despite the pain in his body. "Hiro...run..._get out!_"

"T...Tadashi?" Hiro called out in shock as he moved further into the room. "What happened to you?"

"Hiro, please...run. Just run," Tadashi begged him. "He'll kill you. _He'll kill you!_"

Hiro reached out a hand, as if to touch his face. "There's no way I'm just gonna leave you here, Tadashi. I didn't-" He was cut off when he was stabbed from behind, a katana blade piercing through his chest.

"_NOO!_" Tadashi screamed, fighting all the harder against his bonds, but still unable to reach Hiro...unable to save him.

"I...I...Ta..." Hiro gasped several times as blood gathered at his lips...but then those lips twisted into a cruel smile and the image of Hiro's face flickered and twisted away like smoke. What was left was a vaguely human-shaped mass of microbots, which dissolved into a mass of twisted metal on the floor as Callaghan passed through it. It wasn't alive. It never had been.

"What did you think of the holographic technology? Very convincing, yes?" Callaghan asked him, the same cruel smile twisting his lips.

"You're _sick!_" Tadashi snarled, turning away from him, but Callaghan turned his face right back to his.

"How does it feel? Watching him die? Knowing you can't do anything to stop it? That you _can't save him?_" Callaghan taunted him. "Not good, perhaps?"

Tadashi did nothing but stare back at him in morose silence. Begging and pleading did no good. Callaghan didn't have even an ounce of mercy left in him. He'd learned that the hard way.

"Think about it this way. When we're done here, you really _will_ be able to protect him. You'll be strong enough to protect everyone...just like you've always wanted."

"If you really believe _this_ is the way to help people...you're even more fucked up than I realized."

"You're probably right...but that doesn't make _me_ any less right. I regret you'll end up losing yourself along the way, but I'll say to the Tadashi that still exists...you'll be grateful for what you're able to accomplish," he promised him before sinking a hypodermic needle into his neck, emptying its contents into his system.

The regimen of drugs only grew worse after that day. From then on, Tadashi was never wholly able to distinguish reality from illusion again.

XxX

Callaghan knew Tadashi would never believe it, but what he was doing was for the boy's own good. Despite the fury he knew was hiding just beneath the surface, Callaghan knew Tadashi would have trouble consciously causing harm. By doing it this way, breaking him down and destroying his spirit, he would be able to protect his heart from what they would have to do. He would never be forgiven for any of this, but he couldn't let himself care about that anymore. Only one thing still mattered. Tadashi Hamada was...inconsequential.

The former professor was using a combination of drugs, holographic technology, and the microbots to shape his protege's reality. He was currently watching Tadashi work his way through an obstacle course. If he completed the course quickly enough, the reward was a night free of having to watch the microbot copy of his brother die again...or of rewatching the footage of Hiro screaming at the burnt out wreckage of the exposition center. The young man was willing to do almost anything to not have to experience those things, even for a minute.

Really, it was amazing to see how greatly his martial arts skills had improved when fueled by that desperation. Callaghan had been truly awed when he'd placed a katana in the boy's hands. It would be very interesting to see the results of his experiments when Tadashi finally came up against a human target. He wasn't ready for that just yet, though. There was still work that needed to be done.

Tadashi wasn't aware of it, but he'd been through many hypnosis sessions with Callaghan. He'd been spying on the Hamada brothers for nearly two years now, but there was still information he didn't have. The sessions were his attempts to glean every last possible piece of information he could from the boy's head. There was no telling what knowledge he might need once the current operating system had been erased. He was backing up the hard drive, as it were. At the core, human beings weren't really all that different from robots. The human brain could be programmed just like any other machine. It was just a matter of knowing the proper codes. With Tadashi, it was his love for his precious baby brother. Manipulate that and Tadashi Hamada would become the perfect weapon. It was also the last hurdle his former student had yet to cross.

On the day Tadashi finally crossed that line, he would be ready.

XxX

Tadashi had never been much of a fan of black clothing, but as Callaghan had told him, it kept him concealed in the darkness. There was no way to tell what sort of obstacle the man would have him facing tonight, but if the sensors detected him too soon, he would fail the challenge. Failure meant punishment. Punishment was unbearable.

Callaghan's maze-like obstacle course somewhat resembled the seedier streets of San Fransokyo. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew this was partly due to holographic technology, but he couldn't always remember that. Sometimes he felt certain he was really out on the streets, stalking the night, waiting for orders on his task. Sometimes he felt this was what his life had always been...always waiting for orders from Callaghan...always struggling to escape punishment. Perhaps it would always be like this...always dancing just around the perimeter of pain and heartbreak.

"Continue sweeping," Callaghan's voice sounded through his earpiece.

"Am I going to be receiving a target anytime soon?" Tadashi asked as he glanced surreptitiously around the next corner, hand held lightly on the hilt of his katana.

"Believe me, Tadashi, you will know your target when you see him. Be patient."

Tadashi couldn't say how long after the exchange it happened, but when it did, he was ready.

"Police!" a voice behind him shouted. "Drop your weapons!"

Tadashi turned on the spot, drawing his katana in the same motion. There were three of them. The first he decapitated and the other two he gutted, all without hesitation. Even the slightest hesitation meant punishment.

_No hesitation. No mercy. Kill anyone who stands in your way._

He could hear them screaming as he killed them...see their blood splash onto his gloved hands. The sharp coppery tang of it filled his nose and mouth. Sometimes he knew the system wasn't that good...that he was just insane...but he didn't know that right now. It didn't take long for the targets to dissolve into waves of microbots, but before they did, he was rewarded with distinct visions of his first victim's severed head and his second victim's spilled intestines.

"No mercy. Good," Callaghan praised. "Continue."

With that, Tadashi found himself surrounded on all sides by adversaries, both police and criminals.

_It doesn't matter. None of it does. Eliminate them!_

Immediately, he sank into battle trance, attacking and killing without thought or conscience. Gut one, decapitate another, sever a spine, slice a throat, a shuriken through an eye - there were so many ways to die...so many ways to end life. The human body was frail and pathetic. It took little more than the speed of a thought to cut skin.

_Weak. Weak! All of them weak! Cattle for the slaughter. Kill them! Cut them down! __**Destroy!**_

He didn't stop until the street was deserted...until the pavement was painted red with blood. Then he heard another voice from behind him...a voice full of horror and pain.

"Tadashi...what have you _done?_"

Tadashi turned slowly at the sound of the familiar voice. Hiro stood before him, trembling...shocked and afraid.

"Hiro..." he whispered, feeling his own shoulders begin to tremble as his mind rapidly shifted between two possible realities. Real. Not real. Real. Not real. Real. Not real. .RealNotreal_RealNotrealREALNOTREAL!_

"Kill him," Callaghan urged quietly in his ear.

"Tadashi, why?"

"Don't look at me like that," he hissed at his brother, frightened and angered by the hate he saw blooming in his eyes.

"Tadashi, he is your target. Kill him _now!_"

"All that talk about helping people...making the world a better place...was it all a lie?"

"_I SAID DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!_" Tadashi screamed, raising his katana to strike. He couldn't take this. He couldn't bear to have the little brother who had looked up at him with trust and love look at him with such revulsion in his eyes.

"_Kill him!_"

"Do you even really love me? Was that a lie, too? You're a _monster,_ Tadashi!" Hiro shouted at him.

Tadashi screamed as he launched himself at Hiro, a wordless sound of anguish and despair that echoed throughout the streets. When he plunged the blade into his brother's beating heart, he had no idea whether the feeling in his chest was joy or shock.

Hiro gasped several times as Tadashi thrust the blade in deeper, already choking on his own blood. Tadashi pulled his little brother closer, smiling in an unhinged way as he whispered in his ear, "You aren't _real._"

But even as he spoke the words, he realized...the image wasn't dissolving into a mass of microbots. It remained solid in his arms. He wasn't feeling cold metal through the static tingle of a hologram. He was feeling cooling flesh against his own...the weight of a human body in his arms. As he slowly sank to his knees, he gazed into brown eyes, empty and sightless as they stared up at nothing...and when he finally understood, something inside of him _broke._

Tadashi Hamada had just murdered his little brother.

When the young man turned his pain-filled face to heaven, he gave a scream of such utter hopelessness it raised the hairs even on the back of Callaghan's neck as he approached him. Even though he knew he had him now, knew this was the critical moment, that didn't mean he didn't feel a touch of fear of the creature he'd created. This boy was unstable at best...and completely insane at worst.

When Tadashi felt the man's hand on his shoulder, he felt all of his strength drain out of him. He couldn't even summon up the energy to pull the blade from Hiro's chest to take a stab at the beast who'd caused all this. He just knelt there on the cold, hard street, cradling Hiro's body against him as the pavement slowly grew warm and sticky with his blood.

"Why?" was the only word he could summon up from the void of his shattered soul.

"Tadashi...sometimes, for the greater good...sacrifices have to be made," Callaghan explained as he gripped his shoulder tighter, a look of pain flashing in his eyes.

"Sacrifices?" he repeated, tracing a hand over Hiro's face, gently closing his eyes.

"Yes. Hiro was sacrificed so that _you_ might be set free. This is the moment for you, Tadashi. Cast away your humanity and embrace your freedom. That's what it will take in order to be strong enough to achieve your goal. Do you want to save people...or don't you?"

For several moments, Tadashi just knelt there, thinking about Callaghan's words as he stroked his brother's unruly hair, absently brushing it out of his face. Hiro was so pale. He found he didn't care about strength at all as he cradled his baby brother in his arms. All he wanted was for this pain to stop.

"If...if I do this...if I go with you...will this pain end? Will I be free from that?"

"Yes," Callaghan promised, moving his hand from the young man's shoulder and extending it down to him. "You're an accomplice now. Decide. Are you ready to take your freedom?"

It might have been an eternity or only a moment Tadashi stared brokenly at the hand offered to him, but ultimately he nodded, taking his mentor's hand.

"Yes."

"Good," Callaghan said. "You will be the hand that carries out my vengeance...my Yokai."

At this, Callaghan tried to help him to his feet, but Tadashi realized he couldn't stand because he was still holding on to Hiro.

"You don't think you still need that, do you?" Callaghan asked callously, though he didn't try to pull him away. It was quite plain that that would be his choice alone to make.

"But he...he's my life," the bereft older brother said quietly, looking down at Hiro's still face. He didn't remember a time when his life hadn't been about looking after Hiro. Without him, he would well and truly be nothing. Callaghan didn't say anything, though. He just stood, holding his hand, waiting for him to decide...and finally, Tadashi leaned down and kissed his little brother's forehead before gently laying him down on the street and removing the sword from his chest. "Sleep well, Otouto."

Then he got to his feet and allowed Callaghan to lead him away, never once looking back.

He was Tadashi Hamada no longer.

XxX

The next time the young man was faced with the boy with scruffy hair and brown eyes, he did not know him. He meant nothing to him and when the boy whispered a name in fear, it touched nothing in the young mercenary's twisted heart.

"Tadashi...please."

"Kill him," his master's voice sounded in his ear.

"Nii-chan?"

He didn't hesitate even a moment. He swept his sword up and across, swiftly decapitating the target. The head flew across the room. The body stood for a moment before collapsing to the floor, an arc of crimson blood spraying through the air. Leaning down, the mercenary wiped his blade off on a clean section of the target's shirt.

"Mission completed," he reported tersely as he sheathed his katana.

"Excellent work, Yokai," his master said as he entered the training room. "I think you're finally ready."

"Ready, Sir?"

"Yes, ready to carry out your task," he said as he held out a kabuki mask to his asset. "The neural band is concealed in this mask. You'll be able to control the microbots with it. Remember, you must never remove the mask while in the field, or allow it to be taken from you. More than losing control of the microbots, you will lose possession of your identity if you lose the mask. No one can see your face. _No one_ can know who you are. Anyone who sees your face must be killed."

"Understood," the mercenary said with a nod, taking the mask in hand. He stared at the red and black lines on the mask for a long moment before finally putting it on. The microbots that had comprised his target immediately collapsed into a mass, responding to his thoughts. The bots moved toward him and whirled around him in a small wave.

"Good. They take to you well. Though...I suppose they would, of course."

"Sir?"

"Nothing. Never mind. We need to get moving. Your first assignment is Ruby Krei, Alistair's cousin. She's his head of design," his master explained to him as he led him toward a computer terminal, showing him a dossier on his target: a woman with green eyes and strawberry blonde hair. "You will need her access codes in order to retrieve the plans. Once you've done that, eliminate her."

"Understood," he responded, quickly reading through the file before moving away from the terminal. "I will leave immediately."

XxX

It was early in the morning when Ruby Krei unlocked the door to the design lab. She was in the habit of getting in early because she liked to get going on her work before everyone else showed up. She liked the calm before the hustle and bustle started. She had a nice predictable morning routine, so when she sat down at her computer with her cup of coffee, she was doubly shocked when her routine was interrupted by a knife at her throat.

Before she could scream, a hand was placed over her mouth. "Shh," a voice breathed at her ear.

"What do you want?" she asked when her assailant finally removed the hand from her mouth.

"Silent Sparrow," a cold voice demanded of her. "Where are the files?"

"How could you possibly know about that?" Ruby asked, her voice shaking. It was supposed to have been buried. She did still have the files, of course, but no one should know about them.

"The files," the voice pressed, forcing the knife a little more harshly against the delicate skin of her neck. It wouldn't take much...

"Second drawer on the left. The green flash drive...but that project was scrapped; it was a complete failure. What could you possibly want with it?" she asked calmly.

Her attacker didn't answer her. She just saw a black-clad arm reach past her toward the indicated drawer, pulling out the flash drive. Rather than just taking the drive and leaving, though, he inserted it into her computer. In order to unlock the drive, the terminal immediately asked for a password. The man shoved her forward to input the code and she felt the blade nick her neck slightly.

"Abby," the man repeated as he watched her type in the code.

"Yes. Abby's the key to everything. Also...if Robert's still somehow alive and I'm not going to meet him now...you can tell him he's wrong. I _haven't_ moved on," Ruby said harshly. She understood what was happening now. She was ready to die.

And Yokai didn't disappoint her. Just as soon as he was certain the necessary files were in order, he slit her throat, leaving her to die choking on her own blood as he ejected the flash drive from the computer.

"The mission is complete, Sir. Was the target's message received?" Yokai asked as he strode out of the lab.

"It was. Forget about it. It means nothing. We've got bigger problems. There's an intruder sniffing around the microbot facility. I need you to go and take him out."

"Understood."

XxX

Yokai didn't need more than a moment to survey his new target. It was a boy...only a boy. He was accompanied by some sort of robot. They weren't any threat, of course, not even any challenge to him. They'd just had the misfortune of seeing too much. This would be an easy hit.

The boy noticed him just as he was summoning up the microbots. Panicking, he tried to hurry his robot away with little success. Feeling a tiny flicker of amusement at the boy's fear, the mercenary made a chase of it, allowing the fleeing pair to stay just out of his reach. He kept it up right until the boy was trying to shove the ridiculous robot out the window. They managed to slip through his grip, but he could take them easily when they were lying helpless on the street below.

It was supposed to be easy. It should have been a simple thing, to send the wave of microbots down to crush them both...but then he locked eyes with the boy.

Frightened, shocked, angered brown eyes...eyes wide and full of tears...eyes...that he'd seen before.

_Nii-chan!_

Inhaling sharply, Yokai suddenly found himself stumbling away from the window, barely managing to give a command to the microbots to catch him when he lost his feet and fell. For several moments, he just lay there, unable to comprehend...feeling like a knife had been shoved through his heart.

"What have I done? What have I done?! _What have I __**done?!**_" he couldn't keep himself from crying out, even though he had no idea _why._ Against his master's express command, he tore the mask from his face, shocked to find tears spilling down his cheeks. What was _wrong_ with him?!

Yokai had no idea how long he was out of it, but when he finally managed to regain control of himself, he jammed the mask back onto his face and got to his feet.

"R-reporting," he called back, drawing several shaky breaths. "Mission objective incomplete. The target has escaped. Pursuit at this time would be unwise. It would draw too much attention."

"Did he see your face, Yokai?" his master snarled at him through the earpiece.

"No, Sir. My identity is protected."

"Good. See that it stays that way. Return to base now. There's work to be done."

"Understood," Yokai said quietly, though it wasn't entirely true. He _didn't_ fully understand what had just happened, and if that small spike of abject agony that had pierced his heart was any indication, he wasn't sure he _did_ want to understand.

_The first chance I have, I will kill the boy. He is dangerous._

But while that resolve was planting itself firmly in his mind, there was also something deeper at work. There was something deep inside...something so deep as to almost be gone...something that knew he would _die_ first.

_Who are you? Who is...Nii-chan?_

XxX

(A/N) Well, I'd say we've punished Tadashi well and enough. Next time out, we'll see what Hiro thinks of all this.


	3. Fever Dreams

(A/N) Well...you all wanted this scene, so here it is. Believe me when I say that I have only just begun to torture our heroes. *mine is an evil laugh*

**Love Don't Die Easy**

_Chapter 3: Fever Dreams_

It wasn't difficult for Yokai to forget his failure at the warehouse. There was always a task his master had for him to focus on. There were targets that needed eliminating and scraps that needing gathering in order to complete his master objective. It was on a scrap run that very same night, however, that he came up against his target once more.

There were others with the boy this time, none of which were any particular threat. Then they just made it easier for him to kill them by all piling into a single car and attempting to run away.

Yokai didn't hold back this time. He put all of his efforts into crushing the vehicle. The target couldn't escape this time. He _couldn't_ allow the boy to affect him anymore. The newly armored robot put up some resistance, blocking some of his more vicious attacks, but it was ultimately for nothing when he finally managed to force the vehicle off a dock and into the bay. When the car disappeared beneath the water and nothing resurfaced, the young mercenary stopped breathing.

Yokai fled the scene as quickly as possible, borne away on the wave of microbots, struggling every moment to draw breath and failing. When he couldn't focus enough to control the bots anymore, they collapsed and he was sent crashing to the ground in some dank, desolate back alley. His lungs burned with the desperate need for air, but no matter how hard he fought, he couldn't breathe.

_You don't __**deserve**__ to breathe! What have you done? You monster! What have you __**done?!**_

_I did...what I had to,_ he reasoned as the world began to darken around the edges. _I followed my master's orders. They had to die. There was no other choice._

_There's always a choice...Tadashi._

_Nii-chan, Nii-chan, __**Nii-chan, NII-CHAN!NII-CHAN!**_

"_NO!_" he screamed, bashing his head against the pavement. Nii-chan wasn't him. _Tadashi_ wasn't him. This wasn't him. He was _Yokai!_ He was a weapon to be used at his master's whim. Behind the door marked 'Tadashi'...there was only pain. He didn't _want_ that pain. He wanted to be _free._ He _was_ free.

With that determination, the cold snap of oxygen flooded his lungs. Finally able to breathe again, the young assassin slowly got to his feet, calling the microbots to him once more.

Tadashi, whoever he was, was dead. He was Yokai once more.

"Reporting. Mission objective interrupted. The target from earlier and others attempted to intervene. They have been eliminated."

"You're certain?" his master's voice sounded over the earpiece. "You're absolutely certain the boy is dead?"

"Yes, Sir. He is drowned."

"Good," his master said, his voice low and soft. "Very good. You have done well, Yokai. Continue with your mission objective."

"Understood."

XxX

Baymax was confused.

Granted, it was technically impossible for a robot to be confused, but it was the only adjective he could find that correlated correctly to his current state of cognitive dissonance.

He had scanned the man who was pursuing them. He still had his creator's scans on file.

Except for a difference in neural patterning, they were a perfect match. If he did not already have Tadashi's death certificate on file, he would say that the man in the mask _was_ Tadashi.

He considered informing Hiro of this when he was telling him about the scans he'd taken, but when Hiro and the others started getting excited about being able to track the man and apprehending him, Baymax thought better of it. This inconsistency must surely be a malfunction in programming. It would be taken care of when Hiro upgraded his scanners.

There was no sense in risking Hiro's treatment over something that was almost certainly his own failing.

XxX

If someone had told Hiro Hamada a year ago that he would basically be living the bot fighting scene he was so into, he would have told that someone they were completely whacked. It was awesome, of course, but up until a week ago, he would have said it was totally crazy.

_Well,_ he reasoned as he dodged another blow from the microbots, _finding out your brother was basically murdered changes a kid._

He didn't really care if Krei was the one under the mask. All he knew was that this was the man who had started the fire and stolen his microbots. Whoever it was, this was the man who was responsible for Tadashi's death, and he was going to _punish_ him!

Wasabi, Fred, and Honey Lemon were down, but GoGo managed to get in one more shot just as Baymax was blocking another wave of microbots. Hiro was knocked away from Baymax, but the backlash also knocked the man in the mask down. When Hiro saw his mask lying on the floor where it had fallen, he immediately sprang forward and snatched it.

"It's over, Krei!" he shouted. He was going to see this man rotted in jail for what he did to Tadashi.

The man quickly got to his feet, pulling off the hood that conceal his hair, as it had been singed by one of Honey Lemon's attacks. The man was still facing away from him as he brushed small bits of debris from his black coat, but Hiro still caught a glimpse of mussed black hair in the dim light. Maybe...maybe it wasn't Krei at all.

"Give me the mask," the man demanded harshly, still facing away from him.

"Did you not hear me the first time? This ends right now. Maybe I don't get what you're up to here, but my brother is _dead_ because of it! I'm taking you down!" Hiro snarled. He was about an inch from jumping the man himself. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something unsettlingly familiar about the man's voice.

"Maybe _you_ did not hear _me._ Give me the mask, _boy!_" the man growled as he turned to face him...and when Hiro saw his face, he felt something inside of him _break._

The hair was longer, much scragglier, and there were scars that hadn't been there before. A particularly ugly one ran from the outer corner of his right eye along his cheek down to the jawline. His eyes both were and were not the same. They were still _his_ eyes, but the warmth and humor and protectiveness he'd known was gone.

"T- Tadashi?" he whispered in shock, clutching the kabuki mask in white knuckles. Hyperaware as he was at the moment, he saw Tadashi stiffen at the name.

"Who the fuck is Tadashi?" his brother snarled at him, eyes narrowing in distrust. "How do you know that name?"

"You..._you're_ Tadashi," he whispered, feeling his heart break a little more with each word this man who was and was not his brother spoke.

"No, I'm not. Tadashi isn't here. I am Yokai," he insisted.

"No. You died. You're _dead!_ How can you even _be here?_" Hiro demanded, feeling tears start to pour down his face as he stared into his brother's eyes - eyes that didn't know him anymore.

"Tadashi...Tadashi is _weak!_" the thing that called itself Yokai spat at him, his face twisting into an ugly rictus of anger, a mockery of his brother's kind face.

"He _is_ Tadashi," Baymax's gentle voice explained as the robot moved to stand beside Hiro. "I had thought it to be an error in my programming, but there is no error. They are perfect biological matches."

"Then what the hell happened?!" Hiro shouted, only briefly turning his attention to the healthcare bot before looking back to Tadashi. "How did you survive? _Why have you been trying to __**kill**__ me?!_"

"Because that is the command of my master," he answered.

"Master?" Hiro heard Wasabi murmur in confusion. The others were all starting to regroup around him.

"Tadashi's neural patterning has been significantly altered. This would normally indicate head injury of some kind, but there is no sign of physical damage to the brain," Baymax continued to explain. "Unable to diagnose."

"Tadashi...what the _hell,_ man?" GoGo tried to ask him, moving forward to rest a hand on Hiro's shoulder.

"I don't know how all of you know this name, but I am _not_ Tadashi. He was weak. Tadashi is _gone!_" he snapped at them.

"Then we'll get him back!" Hiro shouted at him, swiping futilely at the tears streaking down his face. "No matter what it takes...I'm gonna get you back, Tadashi. I promise."

"Keep your promise. I have no use for it!"

"Dude, it's over. You can't control the microbots anymore," Fred reminded him, decidedly less enthused than he had been at the beginning of the fight.

Tadashi sneered at them as he drew a katana. "I do not require the microbots in order to eliminate you. That will be easy enough."

"Wait," Yokai suddenly heard his master's voice from his earpiece. "Don't attack them. I have something much...better...in mind. The boy has installed a subroutine in the robot's programming. The robot will listen to your commands, Yokai. You only need to repeat these words."

The small band of heroes didn't at first understand what was happening when the man they knew as Tadashi sheathed his blade. For several moments, he just stood in silence, almost as if listening for something. When he finally focused in on them again, his attention was on Baymax.

"Baymax, authorization code 246R1. Programmer override. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledged...Tadashi," the robot said, immediately going completely still.

"Run program S626. Delete primary programming. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledged...Tadashi," Baymax said slowly. Then he gave several beeps and whirs before falling devastatingly still and silent.

"Baymax? No! _Baymax!_" Hiro shouted, shaking the robot, beating his fists against it. Baymax remained completely unresponsive. "Damn it, Tadashi! What did you _do?!_"

"Engage subroutine R1N2L3R."

At this, Baymax gave an unsettling whir as he hummed back to life, eyes now glowing an eerie red.

"Tadashi, what are you doing? Stop this! Please!" Honey Lemon tried to reason with him.

"Baymax..._destroy!_" Tadashi ordered, pointing directly at Hiro.

"B- Baymax?" Hiro whispered in fear as he started to back away, knowing exactly what kind of subroutine he'd implanted.

"Destroy him!" Tadashi repeated firmly.

"Baymax...please," Hiro tried one last time.

"Hiro, _run!_" GoGo shouted as Baymax drew back a fist to deliver a crushing blow. Finally unfreezing, the younger Hamada took off, only just escaping having his skull bashed in.

Wasabi, GoGo, and Fred all banded together to try and stop him, but they were no match for the berserker robot. He pursued Hiro with relentless intent, and Hiro ran for his life, terror and horror both beating in his blood.

_Tadashi set Baymax on me. __**Tadashi**__ is trying to __**kill**__ me!_

"Tadashi, _please!_ Call him off. You've got to stop!" Honey Lemon pleaded, going to Tadashi to try and stop him picking up the mask Hiro had dropped, but he pushed her back easily.

"This isn't you! This isn't the Tadashi Hamada I met two years ago! He wouldn't do this! Please! He'll kill Hiro, Tadashi! You've got to stop him!"

"Why should I stop the robot?" Tadashi asked, shooting her a cold glare. "The boy is nothing to me."

"That's just not true. He's your baby brother! Please, Tadashi! You've _got_ to remember! Hiro means the _world_ to you! Nothing could make you hurt him!"

"Brother...?" Yokai repeated slowly, feeling the flicker of pain he'd buried before start to prick at the back of his mind.

The others tried to stop Baymax, but it was no use. He was throwing them off like toy soldiers, gaining on Hiro all the while. Finally, when there was nowhere left to run, Hiro turned to face Baymax, frightened beyond all reason, but ready to face what he'd done. _He_ had introduced this subroutine to his brother's creation, after all.

"Tadashi...I'm sorry. I'm _so sorry,_" he whispered as Baymax bore down on him. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did, just the same. Tadashi had been hurt because of him. This had happened because of his microbots. This was _his fault!_

"_Hiro!_" Fred screamed as GoGo clawed desperately at the access port.

"Hiro?" Yokai whispered, a faint memory sparking to life...a toddler with sad brown eyes, holding his hands out, asking to be picked up.

_Nii-chan..._

"_TADASHI!_" Hiro screamed in terror. Yokai looked up just in time to see Baymax deliver a crunching blow to the boy's midsection.

Hiro didn't cry out as he was sent flying across the room. He flew several feet before landing hard on the concrete. When he coughed, he felt indescribable pain in several of his ribs, but that wasn't even the worst of it. When he looked at the floor beside his head, he faintly realized he was coughing up blood. It hurt so much to breathe. Something was horribly wrong.

"_HIRO!_" Honey Lemon shrieked as she ran to him. Wasabi and Fred weren't far behind. GoGo had finally managed to get the port open and remove Hiro's programming chip, leaving only the useless, erased primary chip in the port. Suddenly devoid of a core program, Baymax immediately shut down, collapsing and partially deflating.

"Oh, God, oh, God, Hiro!" Wasabi cried out as the four friends gathered around the fallen boy. "What can we do?"

"Stay with us, Hiro. Please hold on," Honey Lemon pleaded with him.

"Hiro, can you hear me?!" GoGo shouted at him, fighting to get his attention.

"Come on, little man. You can do it. You can pull through," Fred encouraged as he pulled the head off of his battle suit.

Hiro wasn't really aware of any of it. All he knew was pain...pain in his ribs...and deeper inside...something was broken. Breathing hurt, staying awake hurt, and through all that pain, all he could see was Tadashi, staring at him in numb shock.

"N...Nii-chan," he whispered, tasting blood on his lips as he struggled to hold a hand out to his big brother, but that hand fell limply to the floor as consciousness finally slipped through his fingers.

Yokai didn't hear any of what was happening...didn't see the others. All he could see was the boy reaching out to him...and the word as it formed on his lips.

_Nii-chan..._

_Hiro!_

"_NOOOO!_" he shrieked as he fell to his knees, a sound of such utter anguish and despair it caused the others to turn to him in fear.

At Tadashi's breakdown, the microbots seemed almost to react on their own. They swarmed up around him, easily imprisoning him within their grasp. He tried to fight, but he was no match for the near endless supply of bots. Before anyone could really do anything, he was bound and swept away on the wave of microbots.

"Tadashi!" GoGo shouted, trying to go after him.

"Wait!" Honey Lemon argued, grabbing ahold of her wrist. "We have to get Hiro out of here _now._ He needs help."

"Don't worry, I'll call Heathcliff," Fred told them. "He'll be able to get us some help."

XxX

Yokai was dragged, screaming, back to his master. When he was finally released from the ball of microbots, a handful remained behind to keep his wrists and ankles bound.

"You disappoint me, Yokai," his master chided, his voice deadly quiet as he appeared to him out of the darkness. "First you let them take the mask from you. Now _this._"

"Hiro...Hiro..." he mumbled helplessly, not really seeing the man before him. Angered, his master reached out and slapped him hard across the face.

"Look at me, Yokai," he growled, forcing the young man's head up to look at him. "What is your name?"

"I...I..."

"_Say your name!_" Callaghan snarled, shaking him.

"Yo...Yo- k..."

"Say it...or you will be _punished._"

Punishment didn't compute in the young mercenary's head. There was pain enough in his own heart...a fire that wouldn't go out, no matter how hard he struggled to smother it. Hiro...his little brother...and Callaghan had tried to murder him...using _his_ hands.

"I...am..._Tadashi!_" he screamed, his struggle against the microbots holding him renewed. Callaghan sighed before pulling out a hypodermic needle, jabbing him in the neck and quickly emptying its contents into his veins. As the drug slowly took effect, he looked up at Callaghan with dazed eyes, realizing he was wearing a neural band.

"No, you're _not,_" Callaghan said firmly. "Tadashi doesn't exist. He's _gone. _I should have known, though, that you'd never be able to destroy the boy. I expected too much of you. That's why I thought it best to engage your creation. After all, it's basically the same thing as you killing him yourself, isn't it," he said, sneering cruelly at him as he watched his struggling slowly weaken, succumbing to the drug in his system.

"Baymax," he said quietly, feeling something disgusted and unsettled in the pit of his stomach. He didn't fully understand why, but he knew what had happened was wrong. Baymax was meant to help people, not...not _this._

"Really, the boy's done an excellent job with your project. Baymax might actually be a threat to me if he were still operational, but he's out of my way now...along with the boy."

"No, he's not," Tadashi hissed.

"What was that?"

"He's not dead!" Tadashi shouted. "_He's not!_ You can't make me hurt him!"

Callaghan glared at him as he drew closer once again. "Oh, I _seriously_ doubt that, Yokai. Do you even remember who he is?"

"He...he's Hiro," the young man said with more conviction than he felt.

"And who is he to you?"

For several moments, the young mercenary struggled to remember; he knew he'd just had it. For one brief moment, he'd been holding that precious memory in his hands, but then it was gone. Now it was just a name and a face with nothing attached to it.

_You're precious to me. I __**know**__ you are. Who are you? Hiro..._

_Nii-chan._

"I don't know," he finally had to admit, his head slumping to the ground. The microbots didn't need to hold him anymore. He couldn't move on his own.

"That's right...because he's not anything to you. _No one_ is anything to you. You belong to _me,_ Yokai. You have no past," his master snapped at him before starting to move away.

"You're wrong," he dared to whisper.

His master didn't turn to look at him. For a moment, he just stood, staring at the far wall.

"Excuse me?"

"I said you're _wrong,_" the young mercenary spat at him. "Just because I can't remember...doesn't mean this isn't real. I'll find the answer. You _cannot_ stop me!"

His master sighed as he turned to face him, a pitying smile moving across his face. The look slowly shifted into a sneer as he moved back toward him.

"It seems to me you've forgotten your place here. I'll just have to _remind_ you," he snarled as he knelt beside Yokai's unmoving body, seizing him by the collar and lifting him up. "Have I been too generous with you? Have you forgotten that I can tear you apart and put you back together? We won't have anymore of these glitches, Yokai. I'll bury your heart so deep, it will _never_ come to light again. _Nothing_ Hiro Hamada does will be able to save you this time."

XxX

(A/N) So...was it heartbreaking enough for you? Ready for more?


End file.
